Last night, I went to see Magnolia Electric Co. at the Abbey Pub.
Holy canoli, do I love Magnolia Electric Co.
I’ve seen them about a half a dozen times, and last weekI was listening to them a whole lot. Yesterday, I went to see if they would be touring any time soon, only to find out that their tour was ending yesterday in Chicago. Brilliant luck. So I cruised over to the Abbey to check it out, and I was pleased as I ever were. The first six or so songs were all new, and they were pretty mellow, especially the first two which were only keyboard and guitar. They were great, and I hope that there’s a new album coming out soon so I can hear them all again. They only played three or four old songs in the second half of the set, one from Fading Trails and a handful from their first album, including a really, really awesome “John Henry Split My Heart.”
That, unfortunately, is not a live version, but it’s still great. I think there is a live version on the album Trials and Errors, but I only have it on vinyl, so I can’t link to it. The band was great as always, the lead guitar dude had some rad solos too, which I’m usually ambivalent about. That dude’s birthday is tomorrow, and he encouraged everyone to vote for Obama. I seriously bet there wasn’t a single person in that room who wouldn’t be. The singer was a lot more animated than I’d seen him in the past- he was doing all these signs with his hands, like playing charades or something. It was awesome. I’ve been to so many metal/punk shows recently, it’s cool to go hear something so.. well, just rocking.
Despite how great the show was, I suppose it will never live up to the first time I saw them, which was one of the best concert experiences of my life. But that was long ago, I’ll not get into it.